Today’s must-read stories: June 11, 2012

Kasich to sign fracking oversight legislation
As Kasich prepares to sign SB315, which offers no new tools to local governments dealing with the effects of fracking, the Plain Dealer shares the experience of Broadview Heights, where urban oil and gas drilling has impacted the community and residents have few options to fight back.

More school cuts on the way
With the fiscal year set to start July 1, Ohio public schools stand to lose even more state funding as Kasich’s cuts to Tangible Personal Property tax replacement revenue kicks in. The revenue was provided to replace funds for schools eliminated by 2005 tax reforms. Now schools are faced with raising local property taxes to make up the difference.

State to stop investigating cancer clusters
When several residents of the same geographic area turn up with unexplained cancers, the state often gets involved to help find a hidden cause. Sometimes they find an answer, sometimes they don’t. The State’s new policy: don’t get involved. All you get is grief from those whiny parents of kids with leukemia anyway, and who needs that aggravation? Ah, science. You’re so optional, apparently.

Ohio Congressmen admit they don’t plan to pass any laws this year.
Jim Jordan (OH-4) sums it up: “during a presidential election year, it’s unlikely Congress will do much.” So it’s OK if we only pay you for the odd-numbered years, right?

When Congress does act, it’s to advance a political agendaTPM largely confirms the Dispatch report, explaining how representatives of both parties are using the few votes they take to make inroads (or in the GOP’s case, do damage control) with key voting constituencies.

GOP votes to prohibit release of information about who is paying for political adsInformation about how much is spent on political advertising, and how much, is currently available only by going in person to a television station and examining the books. A federal agency rule change would have put the information online, but that’s bad if you’re a Republican. Fortunately, NBC still pays a few reporters and was able to dig up information on upcoming ad buys in several battleground states, including Ohio.

Speaking of campaign ads, National Democratic group plans to advertise in OhioThe Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has $19 million to spend on key House races nationally, and thinks enough of her prospects that it’s spending $322,000 to support Ohio Democrat Sharen Neuhardt in her race against Rep. Mike Turner in the race for the Dayton-area seat. The expenditure is encouraging as it suggests DCCC has access to polling data suggesting the race may be up for grabs.

Mandel takes in $170,000 from payday lendersLenders may be rewarding him for his vote against closing loopholes in 2010 or because his opponent sits on the committee that oversee the new agency that supervises the industry, it’s unclear. He’ll have to ask them the next time he goes to one of their conferences in the Bahamas.